Everton could only huff and puff after early loss of Dewsbury-Hall

Chelsea 2 - 0 Everton

The loss of Dewsbury-Hall after just 14 minutes with a hamstring problem meant that Everton had little left to respond after Palmer put Chelsea ahead at Stamford Bridge this afternoon. Gusto got a second for the home side that sealed their first win in 6 games before half-time.

No real surprise that Alcaraz makes way for the return of Idrissa Gana Gueye -- for just one game before he and Iliman Ndiaye take off for the Afcon tournament.

One huge surprise on the subs bench: only one keeper! Moyes is going soft.

First Half

We all know how the mustard and navy clad boys kicked the game off. But they managed to hold the ball a fair bit in the first 2 minutes before The Chavs started passing it around and won a corner off Tarkowski, headed over by Chalobah.

Ndiaye picked the ball up and ran in but his shot was blocked away for an Everton corner. Poor though, Cucurella the first man, half-cleared before Graner got forward but his effort was blocked back to Sanchez.

But Everton kept the early play upfield until a poor forward pass from O'Brien allowed the turnover. Grealish fouled Gusto. Then Palmer's forward ball went through to Pickford. Cucurella beat O'Brien in a foot race for the ball wide right but nothing came of his long throw.

Grealish went in low again, this time on James with him and Dewsbury-Hall ending in a heap. Dewsbury-Hall tried to run it off but he had sustained a hamstring injury and Charly Alcaraz replaced him after just 14 minutes. A huge blow surely.

Cucurella did not like being called for a block on Ndiaye, Pedro Neto then fouled Grealish near the left corner flag, headed over for a corner by Chalobah. Garner played this one short and Grealish worked hard to put in a cross that Tarkowski played back in at the far post but behind everyone.

Chelsea mounted their first attack after 20 minutes, Palmer played in well by Gusto, gave Pickford no chance. And suddenly it was target practise for Chelsea, Garnacho lashing a shot just over the angle. Then a horrendous ball backwards from Alcaraz, Garnacho putting it just wide thanks to Tarkowski's attention.

A dreadful 3 minutes for Everton, with Ndiaye getting kicked by Cucurella for good measure, Everton desperate to regroup after a decent opening 20 minutes.

Chelsea threatened again but Fernandez headed softly to Pickford, who came out to claim the next dangerous cross in. Cucurella stole the ball after a foul by Fernandez on Ndiaye that the referee failed to call.

Grealish made a rare forward advance, his cross put behind, the corner cleared after \Ndiaye was wrestled to the floor -- clear penalty? Not even looked at. Garner tried to rework it but Chelsea went forward, their cross in cleared by Tarkowski. Pedro Neto lashed one over from distance.

Gana was fouled and Garner swung a clever one to the far post where Tarkowski running in, headed it down too hard into the turf rather than the goal and it squirmed wide.

O'Brien made a great run down the right and picked out Ndiaye who made a complete airball mess of it. Gana tried to make amends, his low cross right across goal and surely meat and potatoes for Barry... but no, he missed it completely. Perhaps Sanchez got his fingertips to divert the cross away from him.

Another O'Brien cross was a little less convincing, and the next one just an absolute shocker that Jake spooned over the Chelsea goal. It had been almost a decent spell for Everton up to that point but nothing to show for it.

Grealish cut in from the left and dribbled brilliantly right into the 6-yard box but his chip over Sanchez was too cute and did not fool the big Chelsea keeper, when a powerful a directed shot might have beaten him.

Gusto had a shot from far out that Pickford saved easily. Chelsea came forward again, Pedro Neto skipping past Mykolenko and cutting it back perfectly for Gusto to force his shot past Pickford at the near post. 2-0... Game over at half time?

Second Half

It will take a miracle to turn this around, with no changes made at the break. Neto delivered a brilliant cross beyond Pickford to the far post where Garnacho didn't get it quite right, or it would have been 3-0.

Mykoleko looked to have got free wide left and headed for the byeline but Fofana took it off him like sweets from a baby. Garnaco roasted O'Brien for pace but scooped his shot over when it looked easier to score.

Good work from Ndiaye won a corner and the ref had to have words in the build-up but Sanchez watched the delivery all the way and got Chelsea on the counter until a foul turned the ball over to Everton.

Garnacho and O'Brien clashed over a 50-50 ball. Everton finally got forward after the hour mark, a cross headed over by Grealish, helped on its way by Sanchez. Nothing from the corner before Barry is switched for Beto.

Santos was gifted a golden chance but he fired over. Alcaraz was lucky to get the ball but he could only win a corner. From that a great cross to the far post was played across goal by Grealish when he really should have scored.

Chelsea created a chance through Gittens, whose cross was glanced on its way across goal by Keane. But Chelsea won a dangerous free-kick, James firing a great attempt that Pickford palmed behind. Tarkowski headed the first corner behind.

Everton tried to break but Fofana's cynical barge in the back of Garner to stop it was rewarded with a yellow card.

Joao Pedro got forward well but put his went in front of Gittens at the far post.

Garner did superbly to steal the ball off Estevao but his forward ball did not find Beto. Ndiaye danced his way through and placed a nice shot beyond Sanchez but it hit the post and came back out.

Finally, approaching the last minute, Everton put together a fantastic move, the ball coming to Alcaraz whose shot was blocked by too many Chelsea bodies on the penalty spot.

Chelsea came very close at the other end, a panicked header by Keane clearing the ball. Another Chelsea break saw Gittens played in but he drove his shot wide. And Celsea, who needed a win, got one quite easily in the end.

Chelsea: Sanchez, Gusto, Fofana [Y:76'], Chalobah, Cucurella, James, Fernandez, Pedro Neto, Palmer (58' Santos), Garnacho (65' Bynoe-Gittens), Joao Pedro (80' Estevao).

Everton XI: Pickford, O'Brien, Tarkowski, Keane, Mykolenko, Gana, Garner (84' Iroegbunam), Ndiaye, Dewsbury-Hall (15' Alcaraz), Grealish (84' Dibling), Barry (69' Beto).

Jimmy Carr 3 Posted 13/12/2025 at 14:22:15

Plenty of attacking options on the bench.

Alan J Thompson 4 Posted 13/12/2025 at 14:22:27

Always stick to a winning... erm... squad.

Derek Knox 5 Posted 13/12/2025 at 14:26:54

As much as I like Gana and his influence (usually) in midfield I can't see the sense in disrupting a winning side to accommodate him for ONE game. He will be off to AFCON after this, as will Ndiaye so we will have to improvise without the pair, so why not start now?

Not being ambivalent but I applaud keeping Ndiaye for his last game as he has the skills that could be important today. At least only one keeper on the bench, but scant consolation.

Brendan McLaughlin 7 Posted 13/12/2025 at 14:33:16

We've a pretty decent away record so I can see why Moyes opted to bring Gana back in.

Tom Bowers 8 Posted 13/12/2025 at 14:51:59

I don't think the return of Gana will change much here.

Everton do not have the midfield to compete with Chelski and will be very surprised if we get anything from this game. Yes that's a very negative comment but the record at the bridge is abysmal and whilst we have gotten some results lately we are still lacking a lot to compete with the likes of Chelski.

It will be a backs to the wall set up by Moyes which doesn't give me any confidence despite the result at Manure.

Kieran Kinsella 10 Posted 13/12/2025 at 14:56:26

I am at work Michael trying to surreptitiously keep an eye on the game in freezing cold KC

Michael Kenrick 11 Posted 13/12/2025 at 15:00:08

I hope you didn't see them ugly Gunners blokes in USA's warm-up. Calimed they were in your big city!

Kieran Kinsella 12 Posted 13/12/2025 at 15:03:59

Thankfully I was spared the awful site.

Derek Knox 13 Posted 13/12/2025 at 15:05:05

Is it just me, or does anyone else think Cucurella is an obnoxious little Cnut ?

Kieran Kinsella 14 Posted 13/12/2025 at 15:06:21

You're not alone Derek. He is like along haired Pepe

Sean Kearns 15 Posted 13/12/2025 at 15:29:19

Get Beto on second half!… Barry does F all

Paul Olsen 16 Posted 13/12/2025 at 15:48:30

Borh our full-backs are so awful going forward. Neither can make a useful cross to save their own lives. We would be so much better with a Baines/Coleman type of pairing there. All teams can double or triple up on Jack and Illi, cos there is no need to watch Myko and O'Brien.

Top priority in january, alongside the sack of coal we have up front

Paul Kossoff 17 Posted 13/12/2025 at 15:48:57

Kireran. you work in k c. what the f.

George Cumiskey 18 Posted 13/12/2025 at 15:53:17

We could of been ahead if we had a proper striker, Barry is garbage.

Michael Kenrick 19 Posted 13/12/2025 at 15:54:37

Well, that was an almost unmitigated disaster after what was a really promising first 20 minutes.

I really wanted Alcaraz to come good for us but he just does these utterly stupid things.

Ian Wilkins 20 Posted 13/12/2025 at 15:55:45

Agree with the full backs. Embarrassing. Waste such good openings.

Missing KDH. Call out for Gana who didn’t track runner for both goals.

Hasn’t been a 2-0 on balance, they’re clinical we’re wasteful.

Alan J Thompson 21 Posted 13/12/2025 at 15:57:06

At times we have played some nice stuff but with no end result and we have given away a couple of soft goals. We've also tried to play out from the back and at times it looks as though we have no midfield as the defence playing out don't seem to find anyone and Ndiaye and Grealish don't seem to come for the ball but with Gana playing and Dewsbury-Hall off we tend to look a bit disjointed.

And another first class display of inept refereeing missing some obvious fouls and also looking like a bit of a homer.

As we could have scored a couple ourselves the game isn't over but you wouldn't put your last on it.

Steve Brown 23 Posted 13/12/2025 at 16:11:09

Agree Eric, he had a disaster in the first half.

Asleep for Cole’s run for the first goal and shrugged aside by Neto for the second. He is completely average in every aspect of the fullback position - defensive positioning, awareness, tracking runners. His offensive threat is non-existent.

Eric Haworth 24 Posted 13/12/2025 at 16:28:47

I wouldn't dispute the benefit of signing Dewsbury-Hall, but surely allocating our budget has to start with our main priorities.

Our primary weakness has been evident for everyone to see for the last few seasons: we've needed two full-backs and a striker. Not addressing it is costing goals at both ends, as is evident again today.

O'Brien is not much better than Mykolenko and could've cost us a couple of goals as well, and the least said about Barry, the better. Other than that, we've performed reasonably, even without the in-form Dewsbury-Hall.🙄

Alan J Thompson 28 Posted 13/12/2025 at 16:59:29

Second half seemed a bit of an anticlimax but I thought it was a game we could have lost 4-0 or with a few slightly better moments we could have won 2-0.

Not too sure the midfield was improved by Gana's return but we certainly missed Dewsbury-Hall and a top class sniffer if not outright striker. Interesting to see what we do when the African Cup of Nations is on.

Phil Roberts 30 Posted 13/12/2025 at 17:09:48

Kieran, You are in KC!!

Gather the biggest selling item are Patriot Shirts as everyone jumps off the Mahomes/Kelce bandwagon and back onto New England one.

Kieran Kinsella 32 Posted 13/12/2025 at 17:15:05

BBC have Ashley Williams saying Everton offered too little too late. Glad he isn't still in our team he'd have put his shirt over his head, thrown the towel in after 10 minutes and made sure it was a 0-6 loss. Not sure how he qualifies as someone to bring insight into analysis after his largely unsuccessful career.

Kevin Molloy 33 Posted 13/12/2025 at 17:18:53

it's amazing that we've got to where we have with those fullbacks. the difference to the side of putting two good players in there. Very dispiriting to lose by those goals. It felt easy for them. Just a gentle press on the pedal, and 'goal'. I suspect we were a bit more adventurous than we would normally be coming here, and maybe played ten yards further up, but of course when you do that, if the players aren't concentrating the whole time, you're dead. Myko will have nightmares with the way that guy strolled past him.

Ndiaye terrific throughout, Jack really should have had a goal, a little bit disappointed with him today. Not a bad little cameo from Dibling, he's still got his confidence, I think we'll see a lot more of him in the next few weeks.

Ged Simpson 34 Posted 13/12/2025 at 17:21:21

Pickford rolling the ball out is too much for our defenders.

Having said that, hoofing it up to Barry or Beto isn't going produce much more.

Edward Rogers 36 Posted 13/12/2025 at 17:57:10

Second goal just before the the break killed us, could easily have been 1-1 @ H-T...onwards and upwards, hope we have a good go v Arsenal next week, then take 6 points v Burnley & Forest 🤞

Robert Williams 37 Posted 13/12/2025 at 18:01:58

Beaten by all round better players.

Not our best performance marred by the injury to Dewsbury Hall however, despite some average performances we held our own despite never looking like winning.

Our team spirit is good and we are fighting, for each other as well as individually. There were some good battles out there and I am quite pleased with our overall progress this Season. Lets see where we are after the Africa thing.

Billy Shears 38 Posted 13/12/2025 at 18:02:42

We all know that we need two Strikers at the very least & we need a new L.B & R.B.

Square pegs in round holes just won't cut it now in this league anymore!

Time to spend some dosh in January, methinks... BIG TIME.

39 Posted 13/12/2025 at 18:07:41

Two questions - and take off your blue tinted specs before answering.

Who, out of that Chelsea team, would NOT have got into our team today?

And who, out of our team, would have got into theirs?

(My answer to both fwiw is none)

In the end, unless you have a genius manager with a brilliant strategy, quality all over the park will win the contest.

Jay Harris 40 Posted 13/12/2025 at 18:16:50

No one seems to have noticed the blatant drag to the floor of Ndiaye from a corner but guess what Stuart Atwell was on var so no surprise there then.